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Don’t Worry. Be Happy! Find Your Gratitude.

Being happy starts with understanding what gives you that overwhelming feeling of happiness. It works the same with any emotion. You can be content to feel something and let it consume you, or you can understand that feeling and start to figure out how it happened.

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Gratitude is fascinating. Just sit back for five seconds and think of something that makes you happy. In less time than it takes to watch the ad before a YouTube video, you were able to comprehend gratitude.

According to Merriam-Webster, gratitude is the act of being grateful. Being grateful is having appreciation for benefits received. In this case, that benefit is happiness.

I spoke to someone recently about her personal quest of daily gratitude. Greer Procich is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in the field of industrial and organizational psychology. She uses Instagram to post a picture with a caption about something she is grateful for.

“The reason I do this is because I am really intrigued by a concept called positive psychology, ” Procich said. “It’s actually you training your brain how to process and intake information and frame it in a positive way.”

An Instagram post may seem trivial, but remember the line earlier about the ad on YouTube? It does not take a lot of time, but just like that five second thought about happiness, it means something to you. It means something to the positivity you have in life.

Procich said that it took her a few weeks to make her daily posts feel less like a chore and more like the change she knew she wanted. “By forcing yourself everyday to recognize something that you are thankful for, it makes you a happier person,” Procich said.

On Instagram, there are over 50,000 pictures with the hashtag #100daysofgratitude.

While many look to the news to find the emotion they should feel about the world, Procich recommends looking within. “It really makes you realize how powerful your mind is and what is controlling it. Once you understand that you can control your emotions, you realize you are in charge.”

You can see another amazing example of someone understanding their happiness at 365grateful.com.